Grace Park hangs ten for “Hawaii Five-O”

The actress, who played Lt. Sharon “Boomer” Valerii on the SyFy series, has joined the pilot for the update of the popular Hawaii police drama that ran from 1968 to 1980. Former Moonlight and Three Rivers star Alex O’Loughlin will star Hawaii State Police squad leader Steve McGarrett, the role originally made famous by Jack Lord.

According to The Hollywood Reporter, Grace will play Kona Kalakaua, the niece of McGarrett’s squad member Chin Ho Kelly (Lost’s Daniel Dae Kim). She is said to be “a beautiful and smart champion surfer who is about to graduate from the police academy when McGarrett recruits her to join his team.”

Well, they certainly have the beautiful part right. And if the “champion surfer” backstory means we get to see Grace in a swimsuit, well, did I mention I suddenly care about Hawaii Five-O? Grace is the second high-profile Asian actress to land a starring role on a new series for next season. Last week it was announced that Maggie Q was going to star in the new CW reboot of La Femme Nikita.

So, are you excited to see Grace hang ten? Is it nice to see more diversity in upcoming pilots? And are you, like me, suddenly excited about Hawaii Five-O?